ISYLLUS, a Greek poet, whose name was discovered on an inscription in the temple of Asclepius in Epidaurus. The inscrip tion consists of a dedication in prose, giving the author's name, and 72 lines of Doric verse in various metres, recording a proces sion in honour of Asclepius and Apollo, and containing a paean and a poem of thanks to Asclepius for aid against Philip. The date assigned to the poem depends on whether this Philip is Philip II., who invaded Sparta after Chaeronea in 338, or Philip III., who did the same in
Wilamowitz-Mollendorff, who characterizes Isyllus as a "poetaster without talent and a farcical politician," has written a treatise on him (Kiessling and Mollendorff, Philosophische Untersuchungen, Heft 9, 1886), containing the text with notes, and essays. The inscription was first edited by P. Kavvadias (1885), and by J. F. Baunack in Studien auf dem Gebiete der griechischen and der arischen Sprachen (1886).